Rollie helped Angie into the vent. It was a tight squeeze but she made it, though she wouldn't have much room to maneuver. The cocktails in the sack were in front of her. He watched as long as he could, and then listened as long as he could.
Li placed a hand on his shoulder, "She'll be okay."
Rollie smiled but his eyes showed his worry.
"You love her very much."
"We've known each other for years and we just admitted to each other how we feel," Rollie brought his hand to his mouth, rubbing the stubble that was now forming, "I don't know what I'm going to do if something happens to her." He had lost too many people in his life. He couldn't lose Angie.
"She's very brave."
"Yeah. Too brave, sometimes, for her own good."
Angie was getting nauseous from the combined fumes of the Molotov cocktails and the diesel from the engine. Oh God, she thought, what if I pass out in here?
Maddox managed to get some of the footage cleaned up and Mira was now on her way to get another search warrant. She called Francis on her way back and instructed him to get the coast guard and the harbor police ready to intervene, but to wait until she arrived. She told Francis that what the judge had seen on the tape nullified the ship's owner's injunction and they were assured of getting whatever backup they would need. She only hoped that they would get to the ship in time.
Angie slowly made it to the end of the vent and peered through the grating. She checked to see if anyone was in the room before she removed the grating. The Molotov cocktails were under her, and the bottles were pushing into her chest. The smell was nauseating but Angie comforted herself with the fact the she was at the end. Getting out of the vent, she realized, was going to be a bit of an acrobatic feat. She would have to lower herself headfirst out of the vent and to the floor, all the while holding the cocktails, so they didn't break. She would be lucky if she didn't crack her skull open.
Deciding that she couldn't take the chance on breaking the cocktails, she pushed them down underneath her body. Then, she raised herself and pulled herself forward. She went down slowly to the floor, conscious of the fact that if someone came in right now, she would be an easy target. She used her legs braced against the wall of the vent to slow her descent and finally her hands reached the floor. Using her hands to walk forward, slowly her legs came out. She tried not to make too much noise but as her feet came free of the vent, they came slapping down to the floor with a grunt. Angie remained still for a moment, listening. Satisfied that no one was coming, she stood up. She rubbed her ribs, which were sore from the bottles and the pressure of the edge of the vent as she made her descent. She reached back and pulled out the cocktails.
The engine room was noisy and hot. Angie had to duck behind some equipment quickly as some engine room personnel came passing through. Oh God, Angie thought, please don't let me get caught! What would happen to Rollie and the others?
Rollie paced the cell. He looked at his watch and then at the vent, "She should be there by now."
Li watched him pace, "Maybe the engine room is farther than we think. Or maybe somebody is in the room and she has to wait for it to be clear before she goes in."
"Yeah. Yeah, maybe," Rollie bit his fingernail, "we should get everybody over to this side, just in case."
Angie looked at the engine and then looked at the cocktails in her sack. She asked herself what would Rollie do?
"I'm sorry, Rollie."
Angie looked around the room. She couldn't believe her luck when she found a toolbox. She took out a huge wrench and proceeded to loosen the hoses from the engine. She just couldn't bring herself to set off the Molotov cocktails, knowing there was a chance of a fireball exploding into the room. She realized that if she didn't sufficiently disable the engine she would still have to set off the bombs. Angie took the wrench and smashed it against the gears, hoping that would disable the engine. Steam came spewing out of the hoses and the gauges started to whir and tremble. Then, she did the same thing with some of the other gauges and hoses just to be sure that it couldn't be fixed right away. She turned some of the pressure gauges up and watched as the needles moved quickly towards the overheating point. Hopefully, that would cover all of the possibilities.
Rollie continued to pace. He was getting more and more anxious. They should have heard the bombs go off by now.
"Something must have gone wrong," he said worriedly. He looked at Li and the others with disappointment.
Suddenly they could hear the engines shut down. Rollie looked puzzled.
Angie took another look around the room and picked up a fire extinguisher. Suddenly she heard the sounds of people running into the room as an alarm and sprinkler system went off. Someone approached close to Angie. She quickly hid behind something and waited. As the man came in, she brought the fire extinguisher crashing down on him and then took his automatic weapon. Then she dragged him over behind some equipment and tied him up and used some tape from the toolbox to cover his mouth. She didn't want him alerting anyone before she finished what she had to do.
Angie then made her way slowly out of the room and up the stairs. She had one of the Molotov cocktails in her hand, ready to light, if she met with trouble. She also still had the gun, slung over her shoulders, and the bag of cocktails. She heard the sound of more footsteps coming her way.
Rollie let out a worried sigh. Something's gone wrong with the plan, he thought. Either Angie had been found or...she veered from the plan.
Li came over, "What do you think happened?"
"Dunno. The engines have stopped and that's good. But I haven't heard any explosions, which means the engine could be fixed and our delay is only temporary. There may not be enough time for the authorities, if they're looking for us, to intervene."
Suddenly, some explosions rocked the ship. Rollie, Li, and the others struggled to their feet.
"She did it!" Li smiled.
"Yeah," Rollie smiled back, because the explosions most likely meant that Angie was still alive, "But that explosion didn't come from the engine room."
Angie made her way quickly up the stairs onto the main deck and headed for the stern. She heard shouting behind her and realized she had been found. She looked back and saw some men running towards her with their weapons drawn.
Quickly, she lit the Molotov cocktail and threw it in their direction. It landed just before their feet. As one of the men prepared to shoot at Angie, the cocktail exploded, sending the man and the others behind him either backwards or overboard. Screams and smoke filled the air.
Soon, more men were on one of the levels of the superstructure pointing their weapons at Angie. She lit another bomb and threw it up at them. It landed just as it exploded in flames, sending the men over the railing down onto the main deck.
Angie ran quickly dodging debris and bullets, towards the ladder where she and Rollie had been led. Quickly, with her feet on either side of the ladder, she slid down fireman style to the lower hold. She ran towards the door where they Rollie and the others were still locked up.
Angie grunted, as she tried to lift the latch. Angie didn't know if he could hear her but she yelled for Rollie to move away from the door. With tape from the engine room, she taped a Molotov cocktail on the latch. She lit it and quickly moved away awaiting its explosion as she covered her ears. The bomb wasn't strong enough to blast the door off the hinges but it did get the latch open. Angie ran to the door.
"Rollie?" she yelled as she opened the door.
Rollie ran over to the door and pulled her into his arms.
"We have to move quickly. They were right behind me," she motioned for everyone to come out of the room.
Rollie took the Molotov cocktails from Angie, leaving her with the automatic weapon.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to create a distraction so everybody can get out of here safely," he leaned in and kissed her.
"You be careful!" she ordered him.
"I'll be alright. I promise," he said as he ran towards the ladder.
"You better."
"I will. Jeez!"
"Don't mock me, Tyler," she said, shaking her finger at him.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he teased her and then disappeared onto the deck.
When he reached the deck Rollie could hear helicopters flying around the ship. He could also see the Coast Guard coming up on the port bow, and the Harbor police coming up on the stern of the Pasiphea. Effectively, the ship was surrounded. But that didn't mean they were out of danger as Rollie could see several armed men coming towards the hold he just escaped, where Angie and the others were still making their way out of. Rollie ran to the port side of the deck and whistled to get their attention, which he got fairly quickly. He ducked behind some crates as gunfire sent splinters passed his head.
"Bloody hell!"
Everyone was out of the room. Most of the prisoners moved slowly because of their physical condition. Li and Angie were herding them towards the ladder when they heard gunshots ring out on deck. "Rollie!" Angie whispered, "Please be alright."
Angie went up the ladder first. Li would follow last after making sure that everyone else had made it out. She looked around to see what their options were and found that they were fairly limited. There was no way they could make it towards the superstructure and the lifeboats. Angie doubted that some of the people would survive a swim in the water; they were in just too bad shape. She didn't know what to do.
Rollie used another Molotov cocktail and threw it towards the superstructure where more goons were coming from. Rollie could see some police were being lowered from the helicopter onto the deck. The ship was rocked by some more explosions, this time from where Rollie imagined was the engine room. Rollie made his way over to one of the derricks controls.
Li made his way over to Angie and the others. As they arrived on deck, the former captives could hear helicopters flying around. They could also see the Coast Guard and Harbor Police boats, pulling aside the Pasiphea. There were calls from the Harbor Police on the bullhorn for people to give themselves up peacefully. The Harbor police were sending out motorboats and there were two small tugboats that were assisting them. Police were being lowered onto the ship from the helicopters; others were coming aboard from the motorboats.
As Rollie surveyed the commotion he could see that most people were giving themselves up peacefully. But there were still a few holdouts with weapons that were making things dangerous for everybody. They were yelling at crewmembers that were abandoning ship.
Suddenly, some of the thugs started shooting their weapons.
"You two aren't going anywhere," one of the gunmen warned, as he pointed his automatic weapon at Angie. The other gunman pointed his weapon at Li. Angie had put down her weapon to help some of the people out of the hold. It was too far out of reach for her to get to now.
Rollie could see some men head towards Angie, Li, and the others. Rollie used the claw of the derrick to pick up some crates and maneuvered it over towards them. Rollie dropped the crates on the men just as they started firing. Li dived at Angie, who was in the line of fire. Angie screamed as they hit the deck and they were covered with debris from the crates.
Suddenly and surprisingly the former captives grew ferocious. They regained some of their strength and will to live after seeing everything that Li, the blonde lady, and the handsome stranger were doing to help them. The captives fought with renewed vigor as more men came towards them. They fought using the dropped weapons, or pieces of wood, or even their bare hands. They chased after the men that had kept them captive and who were willing to let them die. The captives were fighting back.
Rollie was about to jump off the derrick control deck and run over to Angie when a gun was pointed right in his face. Rollie raised his hands, "Whoa!"
"You! You did this!" The man had a thick Baltic accent. He had squinty bloodshot eyes and a thick beard. His insignia showed that he was the Captain of the Pasiphea. "I should have had you shot the minute you were found. Now look! My ship! My cargo!"
"Your cargo!" Rollie yelled, "Those are human beings. You bloody bastard!"
"Enough!" the Captain yelled. His finger tightened on the trigger.
Rollie closed his eyes, waiting for the worst. His thoughts turned to Angie and her beautiful face. I love you Angie.
"NYPD! Put the weapon down now!"
"NOW!" came the order again. "Put it down. NOW!"
Rollie opened his eyes to see Detectives Mira Sanchez and Francis Gatti, and several other police officers pointing their guns at the Captain of the Pasiphea. He was never so glad to see anyone in his life. Except....
As soon as the Captain lowered his weapon Rollie rushed passed him to where Angie was.
Mira called after Rollie, to no avail. She cuffed the Captain and read him his rights.
Rollie called for Angie in vain. There was no way she would be able to hear him over the yelling, the sirens, the helicopters, and everything else that was going on.